Your First Deduplication Project

Your first deduplication project in Dedupely has seven steps: connect your CRM, choose the objects to sync, run the preset Duplicate Searches, review the matches, decide your merge outcomes, merge a small batch and check Merge History, then automate. Nothing changes in your CRM until you merge, so you can explore and test freely up to step 6. This guide is the hands-on version of the three-phase plan in How to Approach CRM Deduplication.

Key terms to know before you start

• Duplicate record: a second (or third) record that describes a person, company or deal you already have. Duplicates often differ slightly, like a nickname, a typo or a work email instead of a personal one, so exact matching alone misses many of them.
• Duplicate Search: a saved set of fields and match options that Dedupely uses to find duplicates in one object.
• Match option: how one field is compared: Exact, Similar, Fuzzy, Similar Words (Any Order), Domain Root or None. For example, Fuzzy catches "Sean" and "Shawn", and Domain Root matches sales@acme.com with support@acme.com.
• Match: a group of records that Dedupely found to be duplicates of each other. "Your search found 120 matches. This match has 3 records."
• Primary Record: the record that wins a merge. You choose how it's picked: Oldest Record, Newest Record, Last Updated Record, Most Field Data or Custom.
• Merge Rules: the settings that pick the Primary Record and decide which value each field keeps. Until you set your own, the defaults apply: the oldest record survives.
• Manual Review: a queue for matches you want someone to check before merging.
• Auto Match and Auto Merge: automations that run on one Duplicate Search. Auto Match emails you when matches build up. Auto Merge merges them on a schedule.

Step 1: Connect your CRM

Connect the CRM you want to dedupe. Connecting and syncing never merge, edit or delete anything in your CRM.

• The first sync usually takes 2–15 minutes for up to 50,000 records, and up to 10–12 hours for 1M+ records.
• After that, Dedupely refreshes your data every 10–30 minutes on its own.

See Connect your CRM and Syncing Records.

Step 2: Choose the objects to sync

You sync whole objects (e.g. all HubSpot Contacts), not individual records. Your plan is based on the records you sync, added up across every object and every connected CRM.

• Start with one object: the one where duplicates hurt most, usually contacts or companies.
• Dedupe one object at a time: turn objects on or off in CRM Settings to keep your record count within your plan.
• Spreadsheets don't count toward your plan's record limit.

See Billing & Usage and Dedupely Pricing.

Step 3: Run the preset Duplicate Searches

Every object comes with preset Duplicate Searches, so you can see real matches before you design your own.

1. Go to Duplicate Searches in the left menu and open a preset for your object.
2. Look at the fields it compares and the match option on each one.
3. Click Scan.
4. To try different settings, clone the search so the original stays as it is. Click Scan again after every change.

See How to Find Duplicates and Match Options.

Step 4: Review your matches

Before merging anything, go through your results so two different customers never become one record.

• Compare the records: open View Match Details on a match to see its records side by side.
• Not sure? Select the match and click Send to Manual Review, so the right person can decide later.
• Not a duplicate? Reject it. It stops showing up in this search and every future one, and you can restore it from the Rejected Matches tab.
• Check the Excluded tab: Safety Settings set risky matches aside there, like matches with more than 20 records or placeholder data such as "test@test.com".

The Manual Review, Rejected Matches and Excluded tabs are at the top of your Duplicate Search. See Manual Review, Rejected Matches and Excluded Matches.

Step 5: Decide your merge outcomes

You have two options:

• Use the default rules. You don't need to set Merge Rules to start: the oldest record survives, and its blank fields are filled from the others. Your CRM's own merge still decides some things, like which record ID is kept, so check your CRM's deduplication guide.
• Set Merge Rules. Choose how the Primary Record is picked, and set field-level rules where you need them (e.g. a Lose Rule so the First Name from the oldest record never wins).

Either way, the winning values show in bold in your results, and the Merge Preview column in View Match Details shows the final record.

Activities (notes, calls, tasks) and associations are kept when records merge, except where your CRM's API doesn't allow them to be moved. For example, Nimble removes tasks, deals, events and message history with the duplicate, and Close doesn't move a contact's tasks or meetings.

See Merge Rules.

Step 6: Merge a small batch and check Merge History

Treat merges as permanent, so test before you merge at scale.

1. Merge 1–2 matches you know well with a Single Merge.
2. Check the result. Open Merge History to compare the original records with the values that won, or click the View in [your CRM] icon next to a record (e.g. View in HubSpot) to open it in your CRM.
3. Bulk merge 1–2 pages of matches as a second test.
4. When the results look right, bulk merge the rest.

Tip: pick test matches with notes and deals attached, so you can confirm they moved to the surviving record.

See How to Merge Duplicates.

Step 7: Automate

Once your backlog is merged, new duplicates keep arriving from forms, imports and integrations. Automate each Duplicate Search based on how it did in your tests:

Auto Merge also works in the free trial, where it uses your 20 free merges. See Auto Merge and Auto Match.

Example setup

A marketing team with 40,000 HubSpot Contacts, where event imports and form fills create duplicates every month:

1. Sync only Contacts, so their record count stays at 40,000.
2. Search 1 (obvious duplicates): First Name: Exact · Last Name: Exact · Email: Exact.
3. Search 2 (needs review): First Name: Similar · Last Name: Exact · Email: Domain Root.
4. Merge Rules: Primary Record set to Most Field Data, so the most complete contact survives.
5. Test: 2 Single Merges from Search 1, checked in HubSpot and in Merge History, then 2 bulk-merged pages.
6. Bulk merge the rest of Search 1.
7. Automate: Auto Merge on Search 1, every two weeks to match their import cycle. Auto Match on Search 2, with an email when 10 matches build up.

Common mistakes

• Matching on one or two fields. One or two fields create a lot of false positives: two people can share a name, and one company can use several email domains. Match on at least three fields, like First Name, Last Name and Email. If you do match on fewer, add more Visible Fields, so you can compare other fields during review.
• Merging before you check the result. Treat merges as permanent. Check the Merge Preview column and merge a small batch first.
• Syncing every object at once. Your record count adds up across objects and CRMs, and if you go more than 10% over your plan’s limit, or stay over it for 10 days, your account becomes read-only. Start with one object.
• Automating before the backlog is merged. Auto Merge repeats a search's results on every run. If the search hasn't been tested on real matches, the same mistake repeats too.
• Treating deduplication as a one-time job. Forms, imports and integrations keep adding records, so plan your automation from the start.

FAQs about your first deduplication project

• Does connecting Dedupely change my CRM data? No. Connecting, syncing, scanning and changing match options or filters never change your CRM. Records only change when you merge.
• Can I undo a merge? Yes, within 30 days for most merges, from Merge History. Undo is for records that weren't duplicates, so treat every merge as permanent. See Undo a Merge.
• How many fields should I match on? At least three, and as many as you want beyond that. One or two fields create a lot of false positives. If you only match on one or two, add more Visible Fields so you can compare other fields before merging. See Match Options.
• Can I merge a lead with a contact? No. Dedupely matches and merges records within one object, like Leads with Leads or Contacts with Contacts. Create a Duplicate Search for each object you want to dedupe.
• How quickly does Dedupely see new duplicates? New CRM records usually show up in Dedupely within 1–5 minutes, and data refreshes every 10–30 minutes. Auto Match and Auto Merge then work on those records based on your settings.
• Is 20 free merges enough to test? Yes, for steps 5 and 6. After the trial, upgrade to keep merging.